The Content Reader

Paris in July hosted by Tamara at Thyme for tea . I recently purchased this book in order to read it for the Paris in July  challenge. I don't know a lot about Èmile Zola and have not read a lot by him either. I do know that he wrote the J'accuse article in defence of Alfred Dreyfus, but not much else. The subtitle of the book is Love, Literature and the Dreyfus Case , concentrating on the year he spent in exile in London, due to a prison sentence in France, and the very last years of his life. Since the book covers the last part of his life, you do not get any background on his younger life and struggle to become an acknowledged author. He was at the time a very admired author in France, which partly changed due to the Dreyfus affair. Rosen has researched well his time in London, his feelings of exile, and how he occupied his time. Mostly, it is a rather depressing account. Zola was not happy outside France without friends and colleagues. He did not speak English, ...

Paris in July for 2018 is upon us. It will be a wonderful month with exchanging anything French with fellow bloggers. Some of you have already started. The pressure (although pleasant) is on and here is my first post. The inspiration comes from Zola. I am reading his Nana and a non fiction book about him, The Disappearance of Émile Zola, Love Literature and the Dreyfus Case.  The theme? Food. After his J'Accuse  article he was brought to trial for criminal libel, and rather than going to prison he left for England where he stayed for a year, before he was allowed back to France. Being a writer he kept a diary and his comments about everything English is fascinating. One thing he does not love though is the food. The following quote comes from a dinner that Nana is hosting. "Thick asparagus soup a la comtesse, clear soup a la Deslignac," muttered the waiters, carrying about platefuls in rear of the guests. ... The waiters took away the soup plates and circulat...

Hello, I am back! Long time no see. I have been busy with the last things of, as it seems, a long move. Living like a nomad, no internet and no time to sit down and reflect. I did have time to read though and took the opportunity to read from my shelves, meaning I don't have to move all of the books. I have given away a lot of them. Due to smaller space in the future, I do give away, or terrible thought, through away some books. I only keep those I really loved a lot. This, of course, does not prevent me from buying new ones. I had a couple of hours to fill downtown Brussels the other week, and ended up in a beautiful bookshop, Filigranes . You can have a cup of coffee or a light lunch here, sitting among the books. It is heaven, n'est pas? They also have a section of foreign books and I went though the English one. It is always interesting to see what kind a books a foreign book shop decides to sell. It is not always the same sort of books as would be highlighted in the UK a...